Winterthur Home & Gardens

And, yet another beautiful home and gardens from The du Ponts of Delaware.

Rain moved in on us for the first time of this trip and it was pretty relentless. BUT, we were still determined to check out one more beautiful, huge home from the du Pont family.

This stunning mansion features the most significant collection of American decorative arts in the world and a world-class naturalistic garden set within 1,000 acres of rolling hills, streams, meadows and forests.

H. F. du Pont was an avid horticulturalist, designer and collector. His home at Winterthur is proof of that. The 175 room mansion houses nearly 100,000 objects made or used in America since 1640.

The grounds feature a recently added Enchanted Woods section that kids would love to explore. So, while the primary draw would be for adults (home, gardens, museum), the entire family would find this destination a treat as well.

My kind of rainy day...

This was, without a doubt, a near perfect day for me. It seems that the rain and cloudy skies have settled into our area for the time being but we still wanted to explore so we dug out some

warmer clothes and headed out.

Well after a late brunch in the camper that is. Brunch is my favorite kind of meal so we started there to let the heavy rains subside before checking out more of Chester County, PA. For those that know us, they know we love to vintage shop. Outside of historic towns and historic sites, we love check out local antique and vintage shops while traveling. Well a not so short trip to Malena’s Vintage sure did the trick! We walked in and immediately felt at home, not to mention, the super wonderful staff gave us a sneak shopping experience into the back room

full of vintage goodies! I ended up with some

wonderful pieces including a gorgeous 1950s suit with matching bolero jacket, 1960s romper, and a stunning 1940s mauve satin gown.

As wonderful as the downtown area seemed to be, I knew there had to be a bookstore too! Well just under 2 miles away we discovered a four-story dairy-barn-turned-bookstore at Baldwin’s Book Barn! Talk about the place to be on a cold rainy afternoon. I was in book heaven! After an afternoon of vintage and books, Jeff tracked down some of the best crab cakes on the east coast at John’s Seafood. A short carry out order and two dirt puddings later we were back at the camper for our feast! Turns out this rainy day wasn’t so bad after all.

Needless to say, there has been some damage to the closet and storage space in the camper. 🙄😆

Longwoods Botanical Garden

Yet another contribution to the public from the du Pont family - Longwood Gardens.

We were tipped off about this beautiful place from a local couple who were also camping in the same campground as we were near Lewes, DE.

Longwood Gardens is located in Chester County, PA, between Wilmington, DE and Philadelphia, PA.

The gardens boasts 11,000 varieties of plants spread out across more than 1,000 acres of gardens, meadows, woodlands and elaborate horticultural displays. The institution was originally founded by Pierre du Pont in 1906 and has since become world renowned for its dedication to botany, design, education and art.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, the elaborate display of fountains and lights come alive to choreographed music. The public is invite to bring lawn chairs and blankets for these evening performances.

On the most impressive features of the grounds in the indoor Conservatory Garden; an elaborate and enormous greenhouse that features thousands of beautiful botanicals among the various paths that wind through the display.

The gardens are open all year, so I can only imagine the display of lights that they incorporate into the grounds during the Christmas season.

There is also a beautiful restaurant on grounds as well as a bar and patio area. You could easily spend a half day or more exploring these expansive gardens.